Help with complicated car finance gone wrong !!!

Bosshugo111

Hi guys

My very first post on here so go easy on me!!
Got a car on finance about 6/7 yrs ago
For just under £28,000
Paid £21,000 off it n fell into difficulties and couldn't pay monthly repayments and the last £7000 (there abouts) off
Told the finance company we couldn't afford it they said return the car which we did. They told me car would be sold at auction and any short fall we works have to pay. Fair enough considering we owed around £7000 (can tell you exact figure if I dig paper wrk out) and the car was worth just under double what we owed but as it was financed we couldn't sell private or trade!! Finance people said basically I wouldn't hear from them again if no short fall....

Well in short 4 years after car he gone and NO letters from finance you'd think it was all good!! Until I received a court letter Inbetween Xmas and new year (Xmas just gone) saying I had so many so many days to reply but letter was dated 2 wks prior to me receiving it and then Court was closed for festive period so I've ended up wi a ccj

They are trying to claim just under £14,000 from me in interest on the £7000 I owed !!!

Can someone tell me what I do as I owed them around the £7000 mark when I returned the car but they've sold car and not knocked any money off what I owed ??? As they've listed the 7000 plus !!!! loads of interest !!!! How do I find out how much the car sold for?? Cos if the car sold for so £5000 it means I only owe £2000
Why have they never contacted me and all of a sudden landed this on me after 4yrs???? I thought if was all done with!! I'm gutted cos no way can I pay off £14,000 !!!!!!!

Please help .....

Ps I can't afford to pay for legal advice are there any free debt solicitors ???

Tixy

Hi and welcome

National debtline's free helpline is a useful place to call.

I would think they would recommend sending a subject access request under the data protection act to the creditor which should provide you with details of the account, how much the vehicle sold for etc, how much were added on for reposession fees and auction fees etc and will also provide you with copies of any correspondance they sent out.

Did you move address since you had the finance? could they have been sending letters to an old address?

Is the CCJ from the original finance company, or is it in the name of a debt collection agency?

If the amount they claim is owed in incorrect they you should be able to get the judgement set aside by the court if the court agrees with you (there is a fee to do this).
If this does happen you may be able to reach a payment agreement with the creditor, or if not they they may still seek to obtain another judgement for a lower amount.

National_Debtline

Hello there,

Do you know the exact date that you took out the finance? This is really important.

I think making a subject access request is the right thing to do here as it should hopefully provide you with all the information you need. On the face of it, the amount being claimed doesn't appear to be what should be expected at all. Here is a link to our sample letter.

The amount being claimed in interest seems very excessive, can you remember what the interest rate was on the agreement?

Best wishes,

David @ National Debtline.

Bosshugo111

Thank you guys for your reply
I'll dig out the original paper wrk and see when finance was taken out
I dont under Understand how they can claim the full amount of if ace that was still owed after selling the car ?? Plus same amount again in interest ??
No still at sane address
It's a solicitors that have issued the ccj through courts and the finance company changed names it states in the court letter
Why does date I took out finance matter? Us it not 6 yrs since I stopped making payments when they can no longer chance the debt?
Shall I use the sample letter you've sent and send that to their solicitors? I've got 8 days to reply to the court with payment plan or they tell
Employer or I can go to prison for 14days!!!!!!
Thank you for taking the time to help

Bosshugo111

Can anyone shed any light on what I should do other than what us wore above? What do I do about courts? They given me 8 days to respond with my finances so I can make some payments
Do solicitors do free half hours still?

sourcrates

Bosshugo111 wrote: »

Can anyone shed any light on what I should do other than what us wore above? What do I do about courts? They given me 8 days to respond with my finances so I can make some payments
Do solicitors do free half hours still?

Is there a form to dispute the amount owed ?


You must have this option, is it a defence form ?


You must state that you dispute the amount this company are asking you to pay, if unsure, ring the court and ask for there advice on what to do if you dispute the debt.

Tixy

I would definitely try calling national debtline Bosshugo to talk through your situation in more detail.

Sourcrates - I think the CCJ was already granted earlier this year. The court paperwork they received around the christmas period would have had the option to defend/ask for more time etc.

sourcrates

Tixy wrote: »

Sourcrates - I think the CCJ was already granted earlier this year. The court paperwork they received around the christmas period would have had the option to defend/ask for more time etc.

Ah !! must of missed that bit !!

Bosshugo111

So should I ring the court and say I disagree with the amount as from what I can see nothing at all has been knocked off the outstanding finance when the cars sold? Should they of wrote to me and told me car had sold and for what amount? I've honestly had nothing at all from them from the day we returned the car to them as just couldn't afford it anymore even tho only £7000 left to pay on it!! Car was easily worry £10,000 maybe more!! Are they allowed to sell car for silly money like £2000 when it's worry lots??
Also why have they left it YEARS to do something like this?? Is it for money in interest?? I'm gutted as thought tugs was finished with when we returned the car years ago !!!!

Lensman_2

If the court papers went to a previous/wrong address then you could get the judgement "set aside". This is a legal procedure where you get the court case put back to square one. You will need to defend the case then, or you will end up with the same judgement.

If the papers went to your current address and you didn't deal with it for whatever reason it is unlikely that you will get it set aside.

Although you say that "debt free laces online can't really help me with" in another thread (what is "laces" by the way?) there are some experts on here who clearly know their stuff.

You will also get good (and free) advice from the legal forum on the CAG website and the Legal Beagles website. I recommend posting on one of those as well to widen the net for your advice.

Start by looking in to getting it set aside though. Google will probably help there.

Tixy

I would suggest you first investigate whether or not the creditor has taken you to court for the correct amount.

If not then you can look in to getting the judgement set aside. But I wouldn't start set aside proceedings and incur the cost of that until you have got more details as to how the debt balance was arrived at.

So should I ring the court and say I disagree with the amount as from what I can see nothing at all has been knocked off the outstanding finance when the cars sold?

The only way to dispute a CCJ is via a set aside application.

Should they of wrote to me and told me car had sold and for what amount? I've honestly had nothing at all from them from the day we returned the car to them as just couldn't afford it anymore even tho only £7000 left to pay on it!!

Yes as a minimum they should have written to you sometime after the car was sold to inform you of the outstanding balance and should also have sent you a letter before action prior to sending the court paperwork out. Usually they would have sent several more letters between these 2 chasing you for the unpaid debt.

Car was easily worry £10,000 maybe more!! Are they allowed to sell car for silly money like £2000 when it's worry lots??

Cars returned/repossessed on HP that are subsquently sold at auction typically sell for under market value, for far less than it would sell on a car dealers forecourt. They will also have knocked off fees for collecting the car and fees for the auction from the sale price.

Also why have they left it YEARS to do something like this?? Is it for money in interest?? I'm gutted as thought tugs was finished with when we returned the car years ago !!!!

Creditors don't usually take court action as a first action, usually they will write and give people an opportunity to pay or make a payment arrangement. They have 6 years to take court action and for a debt this size it is normal that they would take action at some point before the end of 6 years.
They haven't delayed it to make money from charging you interest.